Finishing the abstract shown on my prior post, and having it turn out the way I wanted it to, was invigorating. Now I'm ready to focus on art more intensely than I have since early 2020.
On Photography: I mentioned that the University of Maryland Art Gallery acquired eight of my photographs and they'll be in an exhibit in Feb. 2023, so I intend to go to that. I spent way more money and time than I'd planned trying to get my 12-ink printer working again after too much idleness, so I think I have that on track now. So all's well on the photography front except the getting out there and doing it part, so that's next.
On Painting: I have one more piece (above) that I need to try to breathe new life into before I want start something new. It is way too blotchy and ill-defined. I like the concept behind it and the red parts, but everything else... .

I completed this a few weeks ago, but had to hang out with it for a while to be sure. Now I am happy with it. I think I'll call it "Leaving Earth" because I kept thinking as I painted it that I was moving through energy to meet up with something somewhere somehow.

After living with them for a while it became clear to me that the photo with the window in the background doesn't make the cut. The reason is that too little is in focus and there just isn't enough to hold interest. I will keep the other one, but it is not of the high caliber I would prefer. It is the sort of image that someone would hang on a doctor's office wall because it is relaxing and noncontroversial. I love pines, cedars, and cypresses, so maybe someday I will do a collection based on them and this can be part of it.

I'm working on 2 images that I like (and hope to love). The top one is all about texture and contrast. I don't think I have got the whites right yet, but am confident that it will be a middling good image. The second one has promise not only for its texture, but the captivating window in the background. It's a bit too desaturated right now, but I don't think I want to do either B&W or full color. Again, still thinking on it. Everything sure takes me a long time.

Over a year ago, I was working on this and reached a dead end. Perhaps this work will never be finished, but I thought I'd give it another try. 

I paint for the joy of it, so when it starts to feel like a chore, it is time for something to change. Today the painting (first photo) seemed to stare back at me with the yellow almost accusing me of slovenliness. I tried to identify any spots that I liked and would try to keep, at least for the present, with the full intent of covering over the rest of it. As time progressed, the painting did not. The work was sliding backward. I stepped back and said, okay, you can throw this canvas away at the end. Just try to get to an end...a place where you think you can go no further. With that in mind, I rotated the canvas and tried some new colors. I finally quit (second photo) at a point where I knew I just wasn't making progress.

I told myself that I was going to paint an image of something rather than an abstract, but when I got my paints on the palette, that is not what got started. I spent a bit of time working on structures, then the color took over. Here is the status after the first day, but I guarantee that the end product will look nothing like this. Each day is too different and there are so many things that affect an abstract. When painting a bowl of roses, for example, you have a photo, a model, or perhaps just a clear mental image as the guide. With abstracts, the principal driver is mood, which can be affected by so much—personal events, the weather, time of day, anything.

My sound editor has now completed 16 chapters, which is 149 pages out of a total of 220. I redid sentences that I flubbed today on the 3 latest chapters. If only I could hear myself through headphones (which I can't due to my hearing aids), I'd probably recognize many of the problems when I am recording.  I am eager to be finished, of course, but will somewhat miss working on something or other related to this book. It has been a very long haul!

This one took me some time, but it was easier than most to find my way in it. I thought that it was going to have more red in it, and it fought me the whole way. When I finally succumbed to the will of the colors, the path forward was easier. (I got a little bit of my way about it by scraping circles to reveal small remnants of the earlier attempts.) I ultimately know that if I were less cerebral about the hues, it would be a smoother process, but I don't think that will ever become the norm. Anyway, I am pleased to present my newest:

Doing some re-recording. Because I'm a novice at recording (although not at narrating), I have struggled with staying the correct distance from the mic and controlling the level of my voice and energy from my diaphragm. Below is a shot of the difference it makes, but I don't realize it at the time I'm doing it. It is so interesting to learn a new art, although to my sound editor, it is pretty much a science.